Observer Meets NYU's Hitmaker Jeffrey Rabhan

I saw this in last week's print issue and forgot to mention it. The Observer's Max Abelson has a lengthy profile of Jeffrey Rabhan, the new chair of NYU's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music. It's a revealing look at the school's music program, which is unbashedly fond of pop (even quoting Kelefa Sanneh's seminal article, "The Rap Against Rockism"), and sketches out Rabhan's early success. He graduated from NYU journalism school and worked briefly at Spin and Rolling Stone, before going into A&R and discovering Hanson and Michelle Branch.

What the story doesn't mention is whether or not players like Rabhan really have as much influence as consumer-driven platforms like blogs or American Idol in shaping the next generation of pop stars. The Voice had a story a few years back about how the Clive Davis school doesn't actually prepare its students for the harsh realities of the new music industry.

But for the record, I still absolutely love this song.



(Discloser: I was formerly a freelancer at the Observer and worked briefly with Max, which is to say I fact-checked some of his copy. I also attended NYU's College of Arts and Science.)